BP Completes West Azeri Planned Maintenance

British oil company BP has completed maintenance and resumed production at its West Azeri platform in the Caspian Sea, Tamam Bayatly, a spokeswoman for BP Azerbaijan, said on Friday.

Operations were suspended on May 21 for a planned 22-day maintenance but the work was completed earlier.

"Maintenance at West Azeri is over six days earlier than planned and production has been resumed," Bayatly told Reuters.

She said production had restarted last Saturday.

BP said last week it would shut another platform for planned maintenance in two months.

Oil output from the main Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) oilfields operated by BP, which account for most of Azerbaijan's output, rose to 8 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2015 from 7.9 million in the same period last year, BP said in May.

Total crude oil and condensate production in Azerbaijan fell to 17.6 million tonnes in the first five months of 2015 from 17.7 million a year earlier, a source at the State Statistics Committee said on Friday.

Declining oil output at the Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) oilfields operated by BP led to the overall decline, the source, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to talk to the media, said.

Crude oil and condensate production in Azerbaijan fell to 41.9 million tonnes last year from 43.1 million in 2013. Natural gas output was 29.2 bcm in 2014.

Falling output at the ACG oilfields has been a cause of concern in Baku. Oil and gas account for 95 percent of the country's exports and 75 percent of government revenues.

BP and its partner, SOCAR, tried to calm worries in 2013, saying production had stabilised. Total oil output rose in 2013 for the first time since 2011, but the decline resumed in 2014.

Azerbaijan plans to produce 40.7 million tonnes of oil and 30.2 bcm of gas in 2015.

Reporting by Nailia Bagirova